Dublin City Council called out on u-turn for renaming Herzog Park
Michael Bolton
Dublin City Council received dozens of emails condemning the decision to halt the renaming of Herzog Park.
Documents seen by BreakingNews.ie shows correspondences to Dublin City Council from the public, where people were divided on whether the name should be kept or not.
The park was named in 1995 after Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel between 1983 and 1993, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin.
Proposals were rejected earlier this year to rename the park.
In emails to Dublin City Council, concerns were raised of Israel's military action in Gaza.
"The park is currently named after a genocidal war criminal responsible for the murder of Palestinians. It is terrifying that a public park should be named after such an individual. I was particularly shocked to read that a recent move by Dublin City Council to rename the park was stymied by foreign interference, in particular from America."
Another person said: "No one is capable of, or wants to, take away from the contribution of Mr Herzog, but we have to send messages to Israel to tell them that what they are carrying out is genocide and war crimes."
While a person who lives in the area said; "As a child psychiatrist who has watched the horror of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, I am shocked and appalled by the withdrawing of the proposal to rename this children’s playground and much loved green space in Rathgar, given the historical role that Chaim Herzog played in the Israeli persecution of the Palestinian people.
"This genocide has killed and injured over 60,000 children, leaving Gaza the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, and the area with the highest proportion of child amputees globally."
Others expressed opposing views, accusing the council of bowing to pressure from Israel and its allies.
“You cowards bottled it when it came time to doing what’s right,” one message said. “Pathetic and weak.”
However, several people raised concern of how changing the name of the park would rewrite history.
One person said, "I respectfully say: please reconsider any course that would diminish this heritage, and instead embrace initiatives
that would celebrate it.
"Such efforts would not only honour the Herzog family’s remarkable story but also highlight the exemplary qualities of Ireland’s Jewish community – its contributions to education, culture, generosity, civic life, and the upliftment of communities."
Another person highlighted how this would impact the Jewish community in Ireland: "Please do the right thing and maintain the name of this Dublin park. There are other ways to help the victims of this war in Gaza other than erasing Ireland’s Jewish history."
Another email also highlighted Herzog's legacy in Ireland: "I deeply disagree with a motion to rename Herzog Park in Rathgar. Chaim Herzog lived in our city, and his father played a key role in the Jewish community in Ireland.
"It is divisive and wrong to remove that reference to our history."
However, this argument was also used by someone as a reason for the park to be renamed.
"Between 1975 and 1978, Chaim Herzog served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he denounced UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 - the "Zionism is Racism" resolution - and symbolically tore it up before the assembly.
"I could go on with more facts that highlight that this park should never have been named after him in the first place. To be anti-Zionism is not anti-Judaism."
